Areca ARC-8050U3-6 – 84TB Enterprise

We Are The UK’s No.1 Areca Reseller!
Have Any Questions? We’re Here To Help.

Areca ARC-8050U3-6 – 84TB Enterprise

Expandable 6-Bay USB-C (USB 3.2 Gen 2) RAID Array (6 x 14.0 TB Enterprise Drives Fitted - 7200rpm, 5yr Warranty)

• Fast 6-Bay USB 3.1 Gen 2 to 12Gb/s SAS RAID Storage.
ª Supports UASP (USB Attached SCSI Protocol) - Backwards compatible with USB 3.0/2.0.
• RAID Levels: 0, 1, 1E, 3, 5, 6, 10, 30, 50, 60, Single Disk or JBOD.
• 1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Port / 1 x MiniSAS Expansion Port.
• Board-Level Hardware Encryption Without Impacting Performance.
• Works connected To Macs With Thunderbolt 3 Ports.
• Areca Chassis - 3 Year RTB Manufacturer Warranty.
• Drives Mechanisms - 3 or 5 Year RTB Warranty.

This Product Is Now Discontinued Or Unavailable.

Please Call Us To Discuss An Alternative.

SKU: areca_arc-8050u3-6_084tb
Category: Desktop Hard Drives & RAIDs
Brand: Areca Technology

6-Bays USB 3.1 Gen 2 to 12Gb/s SAS RAID Storage

The Areca ARC-8050U3-6 RAID enclosure offers a truly innovative USB 3.1(10.0Gbps) host interface solution for SOHO group professionals who work at home and or in the office. Using USB 3.1 to PCIe bridge and Areca existing ARC-8050T3-6 industry-proven hardware RAID controller, this RAID storage delivers the performance enhancement of USB 3.1 at the best of cost/performance value.

With the much faster speed than ordinary USB 3.0 based storage, ARC-8050U3-6 is an alternative RAID storage for SOHO group professionals who need an affordable storage at home and or in the office. The advancement of 10Gbps USB3.1 connectivity allows the RAID storage to transfer end-to-end 10Gbps storage speed and fully backward compatible with USB 3.0/2.0 interconnection. ARC-8050U3-6 is OS independent, with no additional software or driver installation required, and also used on any Thunderbolt™ 3 USB-C port.


Unprecedented Performance

The Areca ARC-8050U3-6 RAID storage is built to deliver unprecedented performance, using only carefully, best-in-class components. These include the dual core LSI SAS3108, 12Gb/s SAS ROC, 2GB DDR3-1866 SDRAM with ECC protection and the latest USB 3.1 Gen2-enabled USB-C ports up to 10Gbps.


Powerful Broadcom 12G SAS Engine

The Areca ARC-8050U3-6 integrates the latest Broadcom 12Gb/s dual core SAS Raid-on-Chip to give you the maximum SAS and SATA bandwidth and protection you need to tackle even the hardest challenging tasks easily.


True Hardware RAID Controller

At the heart of ARC-8050U3-6 RAID storage is the incredibly powerful dual-core Broadcom SAS3108 ROC, giving effortless performance as desirable. It delivers true hardware RAID function without sharing the CPU computing power on the host system and also eases off CPU loading as compared to software RAID and when rebuilding an array in the event of a drive failure.


Speed Up 2GB DDR3-1866 SDRAM

With a massive 2GB of DDR3-1866 SDRAM, ARC-8050U3-6 gives you super-smooth multitasking during the period of high overload in 4K environment. ARC-8050U3-6 can configure how much cache SDRAM dedicated for read, and how much for write. If your server application has significantly more reads than writes or more writes than reads, you might need to change this setting to adjust the read/write cache ratio for improving performance. Big cache is the perfect choice for a 4K application drive, making your professional apps work as fast as possible.


The USB-C That Does It All

The Areca ARC-8050U3-6 is equipped with one USB3.1 Gen 2 ports for connecting to any 10Gbps USB 3.1 gen 2 hosts and fully backward compatible with USB 3.0/2.0 interconnection. It is OS independent, with no additional software or driver installation required, and also used on any Thunderbolt™ 3 USB-C port.


SAS Expansion Port

ARC-8050U3-6 RAID storage provides is one external port that it can support JBOD, SAS and/or SATA target ports. The SAS RAID storage can support capacity expansion by adding expander enclosures. You can gradually expand the storage up to 512 Hdd s through the expander enclosures.


Controller-Based H/W Encryption Engine

Host independent real-time controller-based hardware encryption does not impact the performance of ARC-8050U3-6 RAID storage and can implement on any kinds of HDD that is transparent to the user, the OS, and applications. Areca encryption function secures a sensitive, mission-critical volume's data from unauthorized access or modification in the event of drive theft, as well as more routine activities such as the return of defective drives for servicing or the decommission or repurposing of drives. Local key management in the controller is designed to protect data from security breaches with minimal cost and complexity. User can use ARC-8050U3-6 RAID storage API code to design its own key management utility. ARC-8050U3-6 RAID storages support 128- and 256-bit encryption keys using AES (a key size of 128, or 256 bits), or password (a variable key size).


SED-Based Encryption

Areca firmware Security Function, together with self-encrypting drives (SEDs), secures a data in the hard disks from unauthorized access or modification resulting from theft, loss or repurposing of drives. Protection is achieved by the SED hard drive that automatically and continuously encrypts the data on the drive without any user interaction.


RAID Storage Power On/Off Controls

ARC-8050U3-6 RAID storage contains power On/Off controls on the controller. The power On/Off controls can turn ARC-8050U3-6 power in unison with the host computer power status for data integrity. It is advised that you use a proper power down procedure when you would like to power down your Mac and thunderbolt storage. If you attempt to power it down by pressing and holding the power button you run the risk of losing unsaved data and increase the chance of damaging hardware, more specifically the hard drive. Following improper power down, power up and restart sequence of a thunderbolt RAID storage and attached hosts will affect the normal functionality.


Effective Management Tool

Areca provides more flexible management tools comparing with others competitors to manage and monitor ARC-8050U3-6 RAID storage.


LCD: Easy Configuration & Monitor

ARC-8050U3-6 LCD is the primary user interface for the RAID storage. All configuration and management of the controller and its properly connected disk arrays can be performed from this interface. The LCD status panel informs you of the ARC-8050U3-6 RAID storage real-time operating status at a glance so users can easily grasp the status of the system at all times.


LAN Port: Out of Band Management (Without Disturb Host Access)

Lets you set up and manage RAID storage through Out-of-band web browser manager and ArcSAP utility.

ARC-8050U3-6 RAID storage also offers an alternative out-of band method to access the built-in configuration without needing any driver on the host system. You can monitor and manage an ARC-8050U3-6 RAID storage using this dedicated management channel to manage the ARC-8050U3-6 RAID storage without any host connection. It will also not disturb the host access when you monitor or manage the ARC-8050U3-6.


Web Browser-Based Management

McRAID storage manager is firmware-based utility, which is accessible via the web browser installed on your operating system. The web browser-based McRAID storage manager is a HTML-based application, which utilizes the browser (Google Chrome, Safari, IE and Mozilla etc) installed on your monitor station. It can be accessed through the out of band ethernet port.


User-Friendly Graphical-Based Management

Areca Single Admin Portal (ArcSAP) quick manager is an alternative graphical-based device management program specifically designed for use in managing and configuring RAID unit implemented using any of Areca RAID controllers. ArcSAP quick manager can scan for multiple RAID units in the local and remote systems and provide an effective mechanism to configure your RAID units.


Whisper-Quiet Operation

The intelligent cooling continuously adapts to environmental conditions by automatically controlling the speed of cooling fans. As a result, the fan reduces noise to a minimum, almost imperceptible level. Whisper-Quiet Low Sound Levels operation, make the ARC-8050T3 well suited for video/audio applications, without impacting the work environment.

Key Features

• OS independent, with no additional software or driver installation required.

• Fully backward compatible with USB 3.0/2.0 interconnection and also used on any Thunderbolt™ 3 USB-C port.

• Board-level hardware encryption manages any kinds of drives attached to ARC-8050U3-6 without impacting the performance for higher levels of security.

• Supports a battery backup option that protects all data in cache memory in the event of unexpected power outage for data availability.

• Powers in unison with the host computer power status for data integrity.

• Front Panel LCD and Buttons for Easy access for configuration and status report.

• Embedded web server for remote control from one 10/100/1000 Ethernet (RJ-45).

Technical Specifications
Form Factor Desktop 6-bays
Host Connection USB 3.1 Gen 2 x 1
Disk Support 6 x 12Gb/s SAS or 6Gb/s SATA
Expansion Support SFF-8644 (2-lanes)
I/O Processor Dual Core 1.2 GHz SAS ROC
On-Board Cache 2GB DDR3-1866
Cooling Fan 1 x 2700rpm
Power Supply 180W
Physical Dimensions
(H x W x D)
4.84 x 8.45 x 9.11 in
(146.4x255x290 mm)
Weight (without Drives) 13.2 lbs / 6.0Kg
RAID Levels 0, 1, 1E, 3, 5, 6, 10, 30, 50, 60, Single Disk or JBOD
OS Support OS Independent

Product Downloads


Areca Delivery Info


In general, next working day delivery services (UK Mainland) are available on Areca equipment orders placed before 2pm (subject to stock availability).

We kindly advise you let us preconfigure each Areca RAID (as RAID5, RAID6 etc), so they arrive properly setup, ready to "plug'n'play".

This is a free service, and takes 1-2 days prior to shipping.

Non-timed deliveries should be delivered between the hours of 9am and 6pm.

Orders placed after 2pm on Fridays and on weekends will be processed as normal the following Monday.

Orders placed on Bank Holidays will be processed the next working day.


If urgent, please call one of our helpful account managers so they may double check everything for you, enabling you to place your order with confidence.